Badge in Azure

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Mechanical Soul was summoned by the winged skeleton, who then laid on the ground. The winged skeleton pointed its finger at the Mechanical Soul's forehead, who then raised its head and asked, "What do you need me to do now?"

The winged skeleton's mouth cracked open and he showed the Mechanical Soul a devious smile before saying, "Master said that your intelligence is too low, and it will be too difficult for you to control this combat vessel. Therefore, we want you understand the power of some rules."

"Is that so? That's great, however, the dragon skeleton combat vessel belongs to you. I wouldn't dare to…"

"Not the dragon skeleton combat vessel. Take a look." The winged skull expanded the magic image. The bloody scenes on the deck of the ancient combat vessel was clear for all to see. The soul flame in the Mechanical Soul began to dance wildly.

"This ancient combat vessel is from the first dynasty. In order to completely control it, you have to absorb it." Saleen took out the broken jade, which had been cleansed once by his mental strength and nothing was found to be amiss.

"Alright, alright. Once I control this combat vessel, I will help you to finish off your enemies!" The Mechanical Soul lied easily. He could sense the rule power embedded in the broken jade. If he could control the broken jade and grasp the rule, he would be able to break through grade-9 if he could absorb as much energy as possible. By the time he reached grade-10, no bond would be able to contain him. The first person he would kill would be the winged skeleton!

"These are just empty promises. Swear on it." Saleen withdrew his hand and refused to hand the broken jade to the Mechanical Soul.

The Mechanical Soul hurriedly replied, "I swear upon the rule of the entire death dimension that I pledge my loyalty to Lord Soldier and Lord Saleen and whoever else you wish, and that I will kill all your enemies for you!"

His swear was a mess. After that, the Mechanical Soul suddenly reached out with a mechanical arm and snatched the broken jade away from Saleen before putting it into its body.

The golden soul flame of the Mechanical Soul's body quickly wrapped around the broken jade and dug into it.

What a complex rule!

The Mechanical Soul could not help, but sigh. The two idiots possessed such a valuable object, but instead of trying to use it for themselves, they actually tried to gain his favor with it. Once he grasped the rule, he would devour those two fellows…

The Mechanical Soul began to feel confused. The rule was becoming more and more complicated. His entire golden soul flame had already been absorbed into the broken jade, but it could not even find the edges of the rules.

Saleen laughed. The creature might be strong and resilient, but it was not too intelligent. The broken jade could only be assessed and explored with mental strength, using soul flame would cause it to be absorbed and controlled eternally.

The Mechanical Soul had yet to realize that his soul flame was entirely lost. He tried to control the broken jade, not knowing that he had already fallen into Saleen's trap. He was the only one that would fall for such a trick. Other grade-9 creatures would never have believed Saleen and the winged skeleton.

After about half an hour, the Mechanical Soul finally sensed that something was amiss because he realized that none of the rules in the broken jade were normal. They were all made up.

"Damn it! How dare you trick me!" Mechanical Soul howled. He tried to retrieve his soul flame based on his memory and was relieved when he managed to do it. While he was still considering if he should display his anger, he realized that the broken jade was floating amidst his soul flame and would not leave. "Saleen, how dare you!" Mechanical Soul shouted somewhat stupidly. Suddenly, a blue electric current appeared from the broken jade within the soul flame. He quickly shrank into the size of about two yards onto the ground. His entire body was trembling so badly that even the naked eye would not be able to follow.

"Why not? In the future, if you even think about cursing me, I will punish you using this method," said Saleen. Lightning runes flashed across his eyes as he stared at the Mechanical Soul and said, "This is a rule unique only to me. No one else in the entire dimension will be able to understand it. You will just have to obey me from now on."

The Mechanical Soul was shocked and angry. He did not understand why his soul flame could not leave the broken jade, but he did understand what Saleen meant by unleashing the electric current. That represented total control. His soul would always be controlled by the broken jade.

"I normally have a good temper, but once I'm angry, it will take a long time before I am appeased. Therefore, it is best if you don't make me upset." Saleen patted the Mechanical Soul's head and said, "You don't have a proper name yet. I shall call you Genga from now on."

"I don't want such a stupid name! Ahh…" the Mechanical Soul's body bounced once again before slamming back down and convulsing.

"Saleen, you bas — oww!" the Mechanical hammered his own head and howled. After that he sobbed and said, "I submit! Saleen, please forgive me! Your Highness, My Lord! Master…"

"You submit?" Saleen asked with a smile.

"Yes, I submit!" the Mechanical Soul replied hurriedly.

"What is your name?"

"Genga, I'm called Genga!"

"Who am I?"

"You are Master, Lord Saleen!"

"What do you plan to do from now on?"

"Obey Master's orders and kill all his enemies!"

"And what else?"

"Protect the people around Master. I will be the first to volunteer for the most difficult tasks!" By then, the Mechanical Soul's tone had become one of flattery.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I will control the combat vessel. I will go now!" Tens of metal limbs grew out of Mechanical Soul's abdomen and he was just about to leave.

"Wait a moment." Saleen smiled and said, "Unless you have my order, you will never leave this ancient combat vessel!"

"Yes, my Master." the Mechanical Soul's voice was full of excitement. He did not even dare to curse in his heart because he had just been taught a painful lesson by Saleen. That sort of punishment affected the soul directly and there was no way to escape.

The Mechanical Soul charged up onto the deck of the ancient combat vessel from the dragon skeleton combat vessel. Once he was there, he began to devour any object that would help him to evolve. There were broken pieces of equipment on top of the enemy corpses.

"Heh…," Saleen laughed dryly. He thought to himself, "What kind of creatures were the Three Kings to be able to come up with such an evil rule. Once the broken jade enters the soul flame, one will never be able to get rid of it. Besides, I only needed to leave behind a sliver of lightning rule to obtain the Mechanical Soul's absolute obedience and loyalty."

"Master, are you able to create more of such broken jades?" the winged skeleton asked from beside him.

"Not yet. My grade is too low at the moment. Even if I succeed, I will only be able to control living creatures below grade-8. I am not in total control of this object yet," Saleen said regretfully. The space within the broken jade was incredibly huge. Of course, that referred to the space for containing souls or mental strength. He could not replicate one even if he wanted to, much less create a duplicate with its own rule.

The winged skeleton thought to himself, "Looks like Master's understanding of rules has yet to become as deep as mine. Nevertheless, the things that I can create now have their own weaknesses too. I will just have to put up with it for the time-being. By the time I advance to grade-10, then I will have the ability to control more spirits of the dead."

On the ancient combat vessel, Nailisi and Nicholas were leading the spirits to slaughter their enemies. The water puppet has also met up with the two of them. After the three of them swept through the first level of cabins, they immediately came to the front one-third of the combat vessel and continued to search below.

There was a straight passageway here, just like a gigantic tunnel that had been dug out of this metal.

Just as the three of them were deciding who should go down first, the Mechanical Soul had already caught up with them and dove into it without a word. He had devoured so many things that his body had expanded uncontrollably into a gigantic metal snake.

Nicholas was scared stiff, but Nailisi recognized what it was. She explained to Nicholas about the Mechanical Soul, which only made the latter even more worried. He knew a little about the unique attributes of Mechanical Souls. He knew that it would not be controlled easily. It was something that could almost destroy the entire death dimension.

"No matter what, let's go down. Since the Mechanical Soul is leading the way, we should not encounter too many enemies." With that, Nailisi leapt down into the metal tunnel. The water puppet followed close behind before Nicholas finally jumped in unwillingly. Below his feet was a ball of black light that slowed down the speed of his descent. Spirits of the dead jumped down around him continuously. Their weapons made of bones scraped against the metal tunnel, making screeching noises.

The ancient combat vessel was extremely deep, and it was said that there were eighteen levels of cabins in total. This metal tunnel would lead to the core motor cabin at the lowest level. The top was originally sealed off with a metal door, but it was destroyed by the people that took over the vessel. The new door that they put in place was then torn apart by the dragon skeleton combat vessel so then, the lowest level was extremely vulnerable.

Just like that, the Mechanical Soul dropped all the way down and landed on the metal floor at the deepest level.

The loud noise and impact left everyone in the main motor cabin muddled. The only people that were unaffected were the four ancient warriors that were in the corners of the cabin. The four of them turned their heads and looked at the metallic spirit of the dead. The four of them were very different from the previous ancient warriors in that their reactions were not so slow.

When they saw someone infiltrating through the magic array in the metal tunnel, the mages in the cabin quickly retreated and cast magic symbols while yelling at the same time. Nailisi and the water puppet, who arrived slightly later, were both hit by at least two magic symbols.

Magic symbols could not cause any damage, but ere a common method to provide instructions for puppets.

Two of the ancient warriors were clad in tainted blood armor and were armed with long spears that appeared to have spots of rust. They came to the Mechanical Soul in one step and both spears pierced into its neck on the left and right. Both spears made contact with each other in the Mechanical Soul's body, causing an explosion of power.

The neck was not the Mechanical Soul's fatal spot. What they did only managed to almost cut off the metal snake's head. The snake tail swept from side to side, flinging away a few spirits and smashing a few gray robed mages in the cabin.

Smashing sounds continued one after another. The gray robed mages' magic shields were crushed into pieces by the Mechanical Soul's tail and their bodies were smashed into minced meat directly.